In the last half of 2023, the platform banned 452 subreddits, down 20% compared to the six months prior.
Perhaps (or so I hope) because at least 20% of their user base was lost to the API scandal.
Unfortunately closer to 0.5-1%
It’s who left that matters. We lost a TON of tech people. People with experience and knowledge in the field. I visit there and the tech subs I’m in are just kids who either a) just post edgy jokes or b) have no clue and reply with factually incorrect material. The veracity of Reddit plummeted after the API change.
And that matters. That’s the heart of Reddit. The nerds. The geeks. The tech enthusiasts.
If there aim is to turn it into Twitter or Fb, they can do that, but those two already exist and their platform is much more conducive to socializing.
They fucked up with the API and will never bounce back. Not like they care because all they’re chasing is quick money, but still. It won’t end well for them.
And if you don’t think 1% matters, it most certainly does when the 1% attracts 60% of your visitors.
It’s who left that matters. We lost a TON of tech people. People with experience and knowledge in the field.
You aren’t kidding. The tech knowledge of the average redditor has been dropping for years as the site became increasingly mainstream but it cratered after the API change. It’s very amusing to read through a thread about lemmy in r/technology though. According to the average redditor picking an instance and then clicking the “communities” section to subscribe to comms you’re interested in is the most complicated thing they’ve ever encountered in their lives. It’s silly. Lemmy took about as much time for me to get the hang of as reddit did when I first joined in 2011. A few days, maybe a week tops… And that includes the time I spent test-driving different front ends and apps before settling on a desktop/mobile combo of Alexandrite and Voyager.
Sure, understanding how federation works may take awhile but you really don’t need to know much about any of that to get setup and start participating as a user.
I like that there’s a (small) barrier to entry here. Keeps out the riff raff.
